Footsteps of My Faith – Part 4

Rev. Chung Su-won, who
wrote this testimony, was the grandson of Kim Seong-do, the leader of the
forerunner of the Unification Church known as the Holy Lord Church. He and his
wife were blessed as one of the 36 Couples. This is his testimony, not only of
those years during which the Christian foundation was being prepared to receive
True Parents, but also of his own path of faith in the very early years of our
church movement and later as a leader whom True Parents brought to the
international stage.

One day all the regional directors received motor vehicles (jeeps).
At that time there were not many cars in Korea, so we were very grateful to
Father. The church members were also very happy.

In July 1966, we had a church leaders’ meeting at Mai
Mountain. In the evening it was our custom to go outside and read the Principle
out loud. This time all the members were asleep, and I had a difficult time
waking them up. I strongly urged them, “Please come out so we can climb
the mountain.” They finally got up and we climbed to the top of the mountain
and sang holy songs and prayed. We ended with a loud “Mansel!” The
next day we made a stone tower of 365 stones and called it Tong-il Tower.

Teaching the reality of communism to political leaders

At about this time we began the Victory Over Communism (VOC)
movement in Korea. We educated the local people about God’s Word, and about communism.
We tried to convey to them that only through the Principle can we overcome
communism. Every church leader in Korea started working for VOC. In Chun Buk
region, 15 church leaders visited every city and we taught all the government
leaders the VOC lectures.

I was in Chun Buk region for eight years. It was very
difficult because everyone persecuted us and I couldn’t find a church center.
But before I left that region we built our own regional headquarters church.
All the members helped to build it! We were happy that finally we could have
prayer meetings whenever we wanted.

I joined my wife and three children in Cheonju, and while we
were there we were blessed with two more children. I moved to Seoul for a new
mission as church director in the Youngdeungpo district of the city. We just
had a small room on the second floor of the building. It was difficult because
we had no members or money, yet we just concentrated on witnessing.

Carrying out the mission while raising a large family

In December 1970, Father instructed all the blessed wives to
go out for three years on a witnessing condition. He told us that we couldn’t
go to the Kingdom of Heaven if we didn’t participate. No one really understood
Father’s words at that time. When the wives left home they had to give their
children to their relatives. The relatives did not understand, but they could
not reject the children. The members may have had good relationships with their
families before, but during this three-year period most of their relationships
broke down. This was a huge indemnity condition for the members. But it had to
be made. It was only after this indemnity condition that Father was able to go
to America and build his world level foundation.

My wife participated in the condition, and I became a
national IW. Our children had to stay with my assistant, and another sister
took care of our new baby Han Sook, who was just 100 days old. This sister was
often tired and she would sometimes fall asleep and forget to feed the baby.
Many times the spirit world would wake her up and tell her that it was time to
give milk to the baby.

My neighbors said the house was strange because there were
no parents living there, only children. They said God must be protecting that
house.

In my life of faith, I have always had a heart of gratitude
toward Heavenly Father because He protected our family. We didn’t really
understand Father’s direction to separate for three years, but we just followed
faithfully, and because of that we were able to bring good results.

After the condition was over we wanted to buy a house. We
had eight children so it was difficult to find a good one. We brought four
children along with us when we went looking and left four at my aunt’s house so
that the landlords couldn’t see how many children we had. We couldn’t get a
good house so we finally rented an old house on a hill. When it rained the
walls were in danger of crumbling and it was dangerous. I always planned that
if the house ever collapsed and there was no time to gather our possessions, I
would be sure to take Father’s picture with me.

Once one of my children dreamed that True Mother came to our
house, examined it, and proclaimed, “Don’t worry! This house will not fall
down.” Finally, the church provided my family with a house.

Diversifying responsibilities

After my national IW work I became the regional director of
Gyeongbuk Province. Just afterwards, Father asked me to be the secretary
general of VOC in Korea! I went to Japan with ten Korean congressmen. Korean
congressmen generally didn’t like our church activities, but after they visited
the Japanese Unification Church center they were very impressed and became
positive toward us.

Many people persecuted the VOC movement because it was
sponsored by the Unification Church. We continued to give VOC education
nevertheless. In 1973 the Korean government gave us permission to build a VOC
educational center. From that time on, we educated all the major government
leaders and other officials.

In September 1974 Father gave me a blessing in the form of a
trip around the world. I first went to the Madison Square Garden Rally. During
the eight-city tour, even though Father was very busy, he took our group of
leaders shopping and sightseeing at Disneyland, Niagara Falls, Las Vegas, and
Chicago.

We could feel how vast the country of America was, and we
realized how proud the American people were. They would boast that they had the
biggest building, the largest lake, etc.! Therefore, we could feel True
Father’s heart in trying to save America. We also visited twenty other
countries, including England, Scotland, Germany, France and Italy, and then I
returned home to Korea.

After working two years as secretary general of VOC, I
became responsible for II Hwa sales. This was my first time working in a
business. Everything was very new for me. I pioneered the sales market
nationwide. Our company took over the market in the country and had the highest
sales!

As a leader, care for members and do activities

After that I became the director of witnessing at the
national church headquarters. Twice I visited all the churches in Korea,
checking up on all their activities. I asked myself, “If we have the
Principle, why is our church not improving?” I discovered that most of our
church leaders had a lack of understanding of Father’s heart. The leaders
didn’t take care of members with God’s love. They were in Abel position, but
they just gave directions to the members without much heart. Consequently, the
members didn’t have good relationships with their leaders. So when I visited
the churches I emphasized to the leaders, “You should cultivate the heart
of a parent and be a servant to the members.”

On November 1, 1976, my father, Chung Seok-cheon, who had assumed
the leadership of the Holy Lord Church, died. He had been paralyzed on one side
of his body for ten years. True Father had told us that since he had not fully
united with his mother, Kim Seung-do, and had not inherited her tradition, his partial
paralysis was indemnity for this. From this experience I learned that we have
to pay indemnity if we don’t fulfill our portion of
responsibility.

In 1981, couples up to the 430 Blessing were asked to give
up everything and go pioneering. I was the director of the church headquarters in
Seoul at that time but I too went out pioneering. It was rumored that I went
pioneering because I had done something wrong and was being kicked out, but all
I was doing was following Father’s direction. I didn’t complain and I tried to
overcome any difficulties.

My wife and I prayed together each day and read the Bible and
the Principle. We were able to establish a small church, and in one year, 12
people joined. Soon we increased to 30 families.